


Staring at the Sun

by mskatej



Series: Man in the Middle [3]
Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Angst, Double Penetration, F/M, M/M, Multi, Multiple Orgasms, OT3, Polyamory, Romance, Threesome, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-13
Updated: 2013-05-24
Packaged: 2017-12-11 19:17:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/802240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mskatej/pseuds/mskatej
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harvey doesn't care how complicated it is, he'll make things work with Mike and Rachel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm posting this in two (long) chapters, because the second half requires a bit more revision but I didn't want to keep you (or myself) waiting any longer. :)
> 
> Many thanks as always to thatotherperv, for her support, encouragement, beta-reading prowess, and friendship. She is a goddess among mortals. <3

“What?” Harvey said, spreading his hands. “Your girlfriend’s hilarious.”

The moment the words tumbled out of his mouth he knew he’d made a mistake. He watched Mike’s facial expression shift through a series of emotions that started with confusion before morphing into suspicion and then finally settling on horrified understanding. And all Harvey could do was clench his teeth and wait it out because any attempts to explain or deny would only make it worse.

Mike walked out on them. And Rachel might have had a complete meltdown right there in his office had Harvey not assured her that everything would be okay and that he’d take care of it. He longed to take her in his arms; he knew how much she needed the comfort — hell, he needed it himself — but the looming presence of Donna outside the office watching them like a hawk prevented him from succumbing to weakness.

“You should go back to your office. I’ll see you later.”

The moment Rachel was out of sight, Donna walked in, shutting the door behind her.

“ _Rachel_ , Harvey? Are you fucking kidding me?” Outrage, disgust, incredulity, writ large all over her face. “How could you? How could you do that to him?”

“It’s not what you think,” he said, pressing on his eyelids with his thumb and forefinger. “It just...happened, okay. I didn’t— we both care about Mike.” 

Donna couldn’t stand still, walking back and forth, her head shaking. “You care about him. Okay then. Is that why you’re fucking his girlfriend?”

“She’s not his girlfriend,” Harvey retorts. “He was with Jenny when Rachel and I—”

“Don’t insult me, Harvey. Don’t you dare. You’re out of line and you know it. God. I can’t even look at you right now. You are so not the man I thought you were.” 

“Donna,” he said. As if he didn’t feel bad enough already. And now she was heading for the door. 

“Where are you going?”

She turned back and looked at him. “To find Mike. I want to make sure he’s okay.”

He nodded. It wasn’t like he could explain himself. 

~

Donna cooled off after a couple days, and then, after Harvey’s first attempt to smooth things over with Mike was a dismal failure, she insisted Harvey take her out for a drink so they could have ‘a long talk’ about the situation.

“In Mike’s shoes?” Donna said. “I would not want to be in the same room as you, probably ever again, so you should count yourself lucky that he’s still here at work, doing his job. Tell me again why you betrayed him?”

There were things he couldn’t share with Donna about his relationship with Rachel — their sexual fixation on Mike wouldn’t translate easily for instance — but it’d certainly be a weight off his shoulders to admit to someone how he really felt.

“I care about her,” he said. “A lot.”

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You love her?”

He shrugged and shook his head in bafflement. “I can’t stay away from her.”

“Not even now?”

“Especially not now. With Mike hating both of us we need each other more than ever.”

“You have to win him back, Harvey. And I just don’t see how that’s possible while you’re seeing Rachel.”

“I’ll figure something out.”

~

Donna had been skeptical about Harvey’s ‘dinner party’ to say the least.

“What are you saying?” she said, one dubious eyebrow raised. “You’re gonna have Mike over to your place and the three of you are just gonna...hang out. Like buddies.”

“Yeah,” Harvey said with a grin. “It’ll be fun.”

“Look, he’s chilled out a lot and I can vouch for him being in a better place now than he was two weeks ago. But he still hates you, you know that right?”

“I don’t think that’s true. Or if it is, he’s not happy about hating me. Why else would he agree to come over?”

“Hmm.” She made a show of considering the options, before turning wide ‘aha’ eyes upon him. “To kill you both.” She pointed at him. “Better not leave your drink unattended.”

~

Things happened. It wasn’t planned.

Not exactly.

~

And now he needs to prepare himself for Donna’s reaction to this latest development. He’s tempted to not tell her what happened but deep down he knows there’s no point keeping it from her as she’ll figure it out on her own when she questions him about the party. He ignored five text messages and three voicemails from her over the weekend demanding to know how things went, so even if she can’t guess the details, when Donna’s curiosity is piqued she’s like a monkey with a jackhammer. Try as he might, there’s no resisting Donna’s need to know everything about him, and in any case, he takes comfort in it. Maybe her perspective will help him figure out what the hell he’s going to do about this catastrophe he’s set in motion.

He’s a little apprehensive about seeing Mike today. He’d seemed happy enough when he left yesterday but there were enough signs over the weekend pointing towards him still harboring a fair bit of unresolved rage, and no amount of taking his mind off it with sex was going to convince Mike to simply let Harvey and Rachel off the hook for what they did to him. 

Harvey stops by Rachel’s office on his way in. 

“Hey,” he says, shutting the door behind him and taking a seat in the chair opposite her desk. “Well don’t you look radiant.” He briefly considers whether he’d get away with leaning across her desk and kissing her, but he reigns in the temptation and makes do with admiring her face instead.

She’s positively glowing. “Hey you,” she says. “That weekend was...” she stops, shutting her eyes with an hysterical giggle. “I cannot believe we did...what we did. ”

“Lucky girl,” Harvey says. “You could do worse than me and Mike.”

“No doubt,” she says, casting a lascivious eye up and down the length of him.

“You seen him this morning?”

“Not yet. You?”

He shakes his head. “How was he after you left? Is he okay with what happened?” 

“I think so. He’s freaked out,” she says. “But definitely not unhappy. He walked me to my door and he told me he couldn’t wait to see me again.”

“What about me?”

“He’s a little more confused about you.”

“Did he kiss you goodbye?” He’d kissed Harvey goodbye, a lingering press to Harvey’s lips and a look in his eyes that said the two of them have screeds of unfinished business to attend to. 

She beams. “Yeah.”

“What was it like?”

“Hot. We made out for a couple of minutes.” Harvey feels a quiet stirring of arousal at the thought. It’s too early on a Monday morning for this conversation.

“Did you take him inside?”

“We discussed it but decided against it. We both had chores to do and we figured we’d had enough sex to last us at least a few days.”

“Mm.”

“When am I seeing you?”

“I have a thing tonight and tomorrow. Wednesday?”

Rachel nods. “Cool.”

“What about Mike? Have you arranged to see him this week?”

“Yup,” she says with a sunny grin. “I have a date with him Tuesday.”

Harvey would love to crash that date after he’s done with his dinner meeting but he should probably give Mike some breathing space. “So he’s forgiven you then?”

“No. He’s still mad at me. He wants to have a proper talk with me when we go out. You too, by the way.”

“What did he say?”

“He said, ‘I really need to talk to Harvey.’”

At least he’d said ‘talk to’ and not ‘yell at’. “I’ll talk to him this week.”

“Not at work. And you can’t have him Wednesday because I called dibs on you already. Thursday?”

“Can’t. I have a thing. I’ll see him Friday.”

“Good.”

“And then, when that’s dealt with,” Harvey says. “You can come join us on Saturday.”

“Right. After I’ve spent all day studying, I’ll come join you. I’ve got my exam next week remember. And you two have really got to stop distracting me so I don’t crash and burn. Yet again.”

Harvey stands up, smoothes his tie and buttons his jacket. “You’ve got it in the bag. Bring your books with you, we’ll fire test questions at you in between...” he trails off as his imagination gets the better of him, snapped out of his reverie a moment later by Rachel’s impudent laugh.

“You’re insatiable.”

“And you’re not?” he retorts, leaving her nodding at him with a big dumb grin on her face.

~

“Morning, Donna,” he says as he passes her desk, but she’s out of her chair in an instant and heeling him into his office.

“Why didn’t you return my calls or my texts? What the hell happened?”

Harvey’s in a good enough mood this morning to find her eagerness charming. “Calm down, Gladys Kravitz. I’ll tell you everything over lunch.”

“Lunch?” she repeats, eyes narrowing. The wheels are spinning so fast they’re in danger of unhinging her.

“Stop trying to figure it out. You’ll get your answers in a few hours.”

With an harrumph she stalks out of the office, sitting back in her chair and glaring at him through the glass, but Harvey just smiles at her and wonders where Mike’s at.

Although it’s probably best he steers clear of Mike until after his confessionary with Donna - if she sees them together there’s a greater chance she’ll guess what happened, and truthfully, he wants her to hear it from him so he can spin it more favorably than her imagination would. If only to reduce the chance of a lecture. 

Who the hell is he kidding? She’s so gonna lecture him.

~

“Try not to get angry,” Harvey says, topping up Donna’s glass of wine.

“This is not a promising start.”

“Mike came over on Friday night. And...” he takes a big gulp of wine, keeps his voice quiet but his diction clear. “...didntleaveuntilsundayafternoon.”

Donna stares at him and says nothing for several seconds. “What?”

“So things are better between us. I think.”

“Are you saying...” her eyes narrow to a squint while she processes Harvey’s words, and it’s taking longer than it normally might because this is definitely the last thing she was expecting. “You and Mike. And Rachel. And Mike. You and Mike. You...with Mike, and Rachel. Together. All three of you. Spending two nights together. You and Mike. Harvey, I didn’t even know you —”

He grins. “I know you didn’t. It’s the one thing about me you never figured out. I’ve been getting away with it right under your nose for years.”

“Bullshit!” And now she’s searching her memory for all the times Harvey picked up men in her presence — never indiscreetly; he’s always been careful to maintain an ambiguous facade — and the truth is dawning on her; any moment now she’ll slap herself over the forehead... “Johnny Meyer? June 2010, night of the Regatta Gala?”

“Yep.”

“Oh my God. Oh my fucking God. That pretty boy waiter who you agreed to share a cab with after that gallery opening last year, that night I had too much to drink—”

“Aha.”

“Oh God and I wanted him for myself.”

“I know you did, but you weren’t his type.”

“Mike was there that night.”

“I know, and he had no idea either. I radiate heterosexuality.” Donna rolls her eyes. “Pretty sure the only person at Pearson Hardman who knows is Jessica.”

“You told her?”

“No, she caught me making out with a guitarist in the alley behind Henry’s Cellar Bar in ‘99. I didn’t even know she was there that night.”

“Danny Effron. Jamie Cooper.” Donna’s eyes are wild with remembrance. “Tom Fichtner.” 

“Yes, _no_ , and yes.”

“I don’t believe this. I always thought you were just...a cock tease. You flirt with everyone! I didn’t think you were actually being sincere. I am so _stupid_. How could you not tell me!”

“I liked that you had a blind spot.”

“I hate myself so much right now.”

“I know.”

“But that’s neither here nor there. What the hell are you doing, Harvey? Of all the people in the world to go poly with, Mike and Rachel? Jesus Christ. You know you have no business getting in between those two.”

The yawning gap between what Harvey should be doing and what he is doing is something he’s painfully aware of. But he wasn’t lying when he told Donna he couldn’t stay away from Rachel. And there’s no point lying to himself about how much he wants Mike on board. Yeah, Harvey knows it’s wrong to involve himself in Mike and Rachel’s relationship, but what the fuck’s he supposed to do? It’s already done. There’s no going back.

Donna’s still lecturing. “They’ve been in love with each other practically since they met, not to mention the fact that you and Mike have a pretty goddamn big secret you’re keeping from her. Are you gonna tell her? And what happens when one of you wants to be exclusive? What if Mike decides he no longer wants to date two people, that he only wants to be with Rachel? Or, God forbid, you.”

Harvey decides to ignore her question about the secret, just like he’s been ignoring it since things got serious with Rachel; although he’s pretty certain Mike will want to open that can of worms when they have their confrontation. “Why wouldn’t he continue wanting both of us?”

“Because he’s human. And most of us aren’t cut out for group relationships. People are jealous and possessive and, God, is he even bisexual? I really hope so, for your sake. And even if he does give it a go, what if he loves one of you more than the other? What if he only agrees to being with you both so he doesn’t lose one of you?”

All good questions, even if Donna is clearly biased against Harvey being the one Mike might want to be with.

“What if Jessica finds out? How are you possibly going to make this work long term? It’s not feasible.” She bows her head and shuts her eyes. “Someone’s gonna get hurt. You’re all gonna get hurt.”

“Jeez,” Harvey mutters. “Pessimistic much?”

The mood is subdued for the remainder of their lunch, and it seems Donna has sunk into depression. It’s touching that she’s so worried about them all, but he wishes she’d be less fatalistic about what’s happening. Sure, it’s ill-advised, but it doesn’t _feel_ wrong. If anything, Harvey’s never been more excited about his romantic future. 

~

Mike strolls into Harvey’s office shortly after he and Donna return from lunch and takes a seat on the couch. He’s tapping fast fingers against his thigh, a tight smile on his face.

“Where you been?” Harvey asks, keeping his tone relaxed and casual in the hope that some of it will rub off on Mike. 

Mike’s smile turns sheepish. “Avoiding you? But I realized I couldn’t do that for long, so here I am.”

“You okay?”

“Uh...” He stands up, starts to pace. There’s something slightly manic about his demeanor that makes Harvey’s stomach clench up. “Yes? I think so. I have...questions.”

“I know you do, and I want to answer them. Did you want to talk right now?”

“No,” Mike replies with a resolute shake of his head; he walks back to the couch and sits down again. “I need more time to think.”

“You free Friday night? Come to mine after work.”

Mike crosses his arms across his chest, gripping his biceps so tight the veins on his hands pop out. It takes a while before he nods his assent. “Okay.”

“We’ll talk about whatever you need to talk about.”

“Right.” He drops his gaze, fidgeting with the end of his tie. “That’s gonna be a long conversation.”

Indeed.

“Harvey,” Mike says, looking up at him, brow knitted. “We have to tell Rachel the truth about me.”

Harvey nods. “Just hold off okay. I know you’re seeing her Tuesday but take that opportunity to talk about all the other shit you’re pissed off about. And then when we meet on Friday we’ll figure out together how we’re gonna tell her. Okay?”

Mike exhales in a rush of air, and closes his eyes. “Okay.” He shakes his head. “What a fucking mess.”

Harvey doesn’t quite see it that way but he can see Mike’s point. Yes, Rachel won’t like it; yes, she’ll be angry with them both. But she’ll forgive them, because she has to. “She’ll be fine.”

“I’m not just talking about that.”

“Ah.”

Mike turns his gaze back towards Harvey. “You care about me, right?”

Harvey swallows, surprised by the question. “Yeah,” he says.

“I don’t wanna get hurt again.”

Donna’s words echo through Harvey’s mind as he settles on a promise he has no right to make. “I won’t hurt you, Mike.”

~

As tempted as he is to draw Mike into a more intimate conversation, Harvey recognizes that some distance is required in order not to spook him (any more than he’s already spooked). So he throws work at him instead, and keeps their interaction on the right side of professional. It does the trick — Mike goes from tense and cagey on Monday to bouncy and excited on Tuesday, plainly looking forward to seeing Rachel. But the way he’s looking at Harvey changes too. His glances turn shy and lingering, as if he’s expecting some non-professional attention from Harvey and doesn’t quite understand why he’s not getting it. There’s hope in his eyes, which Harvey is enjoying so much he vows to continue playing it cool, so that by the time Mike meets with him on Friday he’ll be desperate for some real affection. 

He visits Rachel as often as he can without drawing attention to himself and when he’s reached his daily quota he settles for talking to her on the phone or emailing. She doesn’t have much to report until Wednesday morning although instead of filling Harvey in on how things went on her date with Mike she insists on his patience. 

“I’ll tell you everything tonight,” she says when they run into each other in the corridor near her office. “When we’re alone together.”

Harvey does his best to keep his expression neutral, but the subtext of her promise makes it difficult. She’s saving the Mike story for bedtime, just the way he likes it. He walks quickly away from her and inwardly orders his dick to stay down.

That Mike’s in a particularly good mood today doesn’t help matters.

“Have a good time last night?’ Harvey can’t help but ask him, eyeing the smile that has barely left Mike’s face all day. Mike has been in his office the past hour reading case files, so glaringly happy that it’s been a test of Harvey’s self control not to demand Mike tell him everything that happened with Rachel. 

Mike’s gaze shoots up, his smile turns coy. “Yeah, really good. I guess you’ll hear all about it tonight.”

Harvey nods. “Yeah.” He can’t tell whether Mike doesn’t mind or whether he’s simply not dwelling on that aspect of the situation. He should drop it, he knows he should, but patience has never been one of Harvey’s virtues. “How do you feel about that?”

Mike pins Harvey with a thoughtful stare, but his pleased smile remains in place. “Good,” he says. An enigmatic answer if ever there was one, but Harvey won’t rise to the bait — if Mike wants to keep Harvey guessing he’s got a right to, and anyway, he doesn’t seem to be lying. Which means he does feel good about it, and that’s all Harvey needs to know.

~

Rachel’s due at eight o’clock and by a quarter to Harvey is so impatient to see her he’s pretty sure he’s going to lose it if she’s even one minute late. Fortunately she’s in tune with the state he’s in and is standing at his door five minutes early. He pulls her inside by the hand, slams the door behind her and pushes her up against it. 

When he pulls back so they can take a breath, Rachel says, “Oh God, Harvey, did you miss me?”

“Yeah,” he says, kissing her again, grabbing the hem of her skirt and yanking it upwards. He drops to his knees and tugs her panties down the length of her legs so she can step out of them. Then she plants stilettoed heels on the floor either side of Harvey’s knees, her hips thrust forward and her back supported against the door. Harvey tosses her panties aside and buries his face into her pussy — she’s already wet for him and he knows it won’t take long to get her off, pushing his tongue and fingers inside her, drinking in the fragrant smell of her, the sweet-salt taste of her that’s so familiar, so necessary to him now. She rolls her hips, riding his mouth and hand and chanting his name, and when she comes she chokes out a moan, clutching his hair in her fists so tight it hurts. 

“Jesus,” she says. “I think I need to lie down.”

Harvey takes her by the hand and leads her to the bedroom, where he undresses her slowly, laying kisses on newly exposed skin each time he discards an item of clothing. “Not that I’m complaining,” Rachel says. “But why in such a hurry to get me into bed? I haven’t eaten yet, you know.” 

She’s completely naked and lying on her back on his bed, and he needs to take her so badly. “Me either. We’ll order dinner in a little while.” He’s standing on the floor in between Rachel’s spread legs, his knees flush against the bed. “But first I just need to—” Harvey unzips and pushes his pants down just low enough for his cock to spring free. He tugs her forward until her ass is right at the edge of the bed and then he slides inside her. “Oh Jesus—” He leans over her and holds her face in his hand as he pumps in and out. “You on the pill yet?” She’d promised on Sunday that she’d sort herself out this week.

“Yes I started it on Monday, but it’s not effective for seven to ten days.”

“Okay,” Harvey says, rewarding her with a kiss, but he doesn’t stop moving. “Did you and Mike use a condom last night?”

“No,” Rachel says.

Harvey groans. He thrusts in a few more times and then quickly pulls out — “ _Fuck_ ” — before shooting all over her breasts. Staring into his eyes, she runs a finger through his come and sucks it into her mouth as one final orgasmic shudder rockets through Harvey’s body. 

She props herself up on her elbows. “Take your clothes off,” she says. “And then food, please. I am _starving_.”

~

Once he’s in bed and she’s curled herself warm around his body he dials in for Thai food, tosses his phone aside and strokes her hair until she’s dozy. They’re both nearly asleep by the time the delivery arrives. 

They eat in bed, naked, and Harvey fills Rachel in on Donna’s reaction. 

“I’m not surprised she doesn’t approve. She hasn’t exactly been supportive of our relationship. She hasn’t even tried to talk to me about it yet.”

“Have you tried talking to her?”

“No,” Rachel grumbles. “I’m scared she’ll lecture me.”

Harvey laughs. “Valid fear.”

“She’s been perfectly fine with me the past few weeks; friendly and not conspicuously disapproving. But I also feel like she doesn’t trust me anymore.”

“Give her time, she’ll come around. She’s very protective of her brood, and when it comes to Mike she’s as devoted as the rest of us. She was furious that we’d hurt him, and she’s worried we’ll continue to hurt him.”

“We won’t though.”

“I know. But Donna doesn’t.”

After reassuring each other that what they’re doing is worth it, that they’ll do everything they possibly can to ensure Mike doesn’t get hurt again, the conversation morphs into the particularities of Rachel’s date. 

She and Mike went to a good Italian restaurant near her apartment and they got the difficult part of the conversation out of the way over dinner. “He didn’t talk much about you. He said he wanted you to hear what he had to say to him from him, not from me. I told him I wouldn’t tell you if he didn’t want me to and he said he has absolutely no reason to trust me.” Her tone is light but there’s a tightness around her eyes. That particular issue wasn’t resolved then. “He told me I broke his heart. I said I know. And I’m sorry. Hurting him was the most awful thing I’ve ever done.”

Harvey takes her hand and squeezes it, but he needs to be closer. “Let me clear up. Wait there.” He picks up the tray of dishes and takes it out to the kitchen where he leaves it on the counter to be dealt with later.

Back in bed, he holds Rachel in his arms while she continues her story.

Mike had really let her have it, and he had also been highly critical of her and Harvey’s method to appease him. He’d described it as “unbelievably manipulative” and when Rachel had countered with the obvious statement that he’d been more than happy to take advantage of their manipulation he’d conceded her point, saying, “What was I supposed to do? One minute I’m just regular old Mike Ross, minding my own business; the next I’m starring in the hottest porno ever made with the best looking assholes I’ve ever met. God, we really should have filmed it.” So that had broken the ice. They’d had a laugh over how just plain damn amazing the weekend had been, and at that point Harvey couldn’t help but interject with a question.

“Does he want a repeat?” 

Rachel kisses him on the lips with a smile. “Without a doubt.”

“What exactly did he say?”

“I said, ‘do you think you’d like to do something like that again?’ and _he_ said, and I quote, ‘I really, really do.’”

Harvey grins.

After dinner they’d gone back to Rachel’s house where Mike had met Orson. “How did that go?”

“Not well,” Rachel says. “Orson hates everyone except me and was extremely rude to Mike all evening.”

“I know how Mike feels.”

The besotted look Rachel gets in her eyes when she talks about Orson never fails to amuse Harvey. Although if she ever moves in here she’d probably insist on bringing the cat with her, which could be a problem. It’s not that Harvey is anti-cat, not by any means, but Orson is apparently anti-everyone but Rachel, and if Harvey’s going to break his ‘absolutely no pets that shed fur on his suits under any circumstances’ rule, it should probably be for an animal that doesn’t want him dead. 

Rachel was about to show Mike around the house when her roommate turned up.

“Ah, the elusive Trudy.” They spend most of their time together at Harvey’s place, but the few times he’s been to Rachel’s Trudy wasn’t there. 

“Mike and I were hanging out in the kitchen and she came and said hi, but then she took off with her tub of Chunky Monkey to watch _Kim and Kourtney Take Miami_. I was so tempted to suggest we join her but I didn’t want to embarrass myself.”

Which is where the conversation takes a detour.

A few weeks ago, when Rachel was playing with Harvey’s remote control without his permission, she’d stumbled across his list of DVR’d programs, which revealed to her his secret Kardashian addiction. He’s seen every episode of every permutation of that stupid family’s franchise, the discovery of which caused Rachel to have conniptions because she, as it turned out, is also a secret fan. Rachel finds it particularly delightful that Khloe is Harvey’s favorite sister and that he’d far rather bang her than Kim or Kourtney, although, in all fairness, he wouldn’t kick any of them out of bed for eating oranges. 

They spend the next hour passionately bickering about reality TV, the discussion getting so heated Harvey ends up straddling one of Rachel’s thighs, his hand around her throat and knee pressed to the moist heat between her legs, demanding that she yield. 

“I yield!” she hollers with a breathless giggle, squirming beneath him in a distracting manner.

“Right, so we’re agreed.” He releases her, climbs off her and reclines back onto his side. “Scott has a small penis.”

“I’m not agreeing to that,” Rachel says. “But I will agree to disagree.”

Harvey laughs and tugs back the sheet she’d pulled up to her armpits, so he can fondle her breasts. It’s unlikely he’ll be able to come again tonight — ah, the perils of ageing — but he’s edging towards the right mood for hearing about what happened next with Mike.

“So did he make the first move, or did you?”

Rachel gazes up at the ceiling, lips curving into a blissful smile. “Technically him, but I made it real easy.”

“Of course you did,” Harvey says, twiddling one of her nipples until it stiffens.

“I showed him around the place and I saved my bedroom for last. And then he closed the door behind us.”

Harvey grunts a little, leans down to take Rachel’s nipple into his mouth.

“So I gave him a hard time and Harvey, do you know what he said?”

He’s still got his mouth wrapped around her breast so his “What?” comes out muffled.

“He said, ‘Don’t even try to pretend you’re not a sure thing.’”

Harvey sucks air in through his teeth, slides a hand between her legs and slips a finger into her. “Oh fuck, why do I find that so hot?”

This is the first time he and Rachel are getting to talk about an experience that actually happened with Mike instead of just a fantasy, and it’s exciting the hell out of Harvey. He got a small taste of what Mike is like in bed on the weekend but there’s still so much to learn. He’d been concerned he wouldn’t manage another erection tonight but that’s not going to be problem after all, not with Rachel fucking his fingers the way she is, and talking about Mike like that, in that husky whisper.

“After that we took our clothes off and got straight to it.”

“No foreplay?”

“He licked my cunt and I sucked his cock, but not for long. We both just wanted him inside me.”

“Oh yeah, oh fuck yeah. I can’t wait to watch you two again.”

“Ditto, Harvey. You and Mike...my _God_...” She reaches down between them and curls her fist around his cock. “Oh baby...you feel good.”

They fall silent as Rachel works his cock until it’s hard enough to sit on and then she pushes him onto his back and straddles him. 

“Was this the position you were in?” 

She sinks down onto him, Harvey clutching her ass and guiding her up and down, setting a nice, leisurely pace. “No,” she says. “Not at first.” She holds onto his shoulders as she moves. “We started with him on top. And then...a few minutes in...he said... ‘is this about the time you and Harvey start talking about me?’ I said yes and he liked that a lot. He wanted to know if we talk about him every time we fuck...god he really liked it when I said yes... He wanted me to tell him all about the first time…he wanted every detail…so I told him everything. We switched positions a few times...after a while I ended up like this...riding him like I’m riding you. And when I told him what happened... when I told him about how you fucked me for the first time...how you said you were gonna watch me and him....you were gonna watch him fuck me...and how that made us come... Me telling him that...that made _him_ come.” Harvey can feel Rachel’s pussy clenching wet around his cock and now she’s coming herself, panting, gasping, sweet body arching, her eyes squeezed shut. 

Perfect.

Harvey’s been with women who didn’t orgasm at all, he’s been with women who he’s certain faked it, and he’s been with women who could only come once per session. But Rachel, much to Harvey’s endless delight, is that lucky type of woman who comes a _lot_. She’s so orgasmic it blows his mind on a regular basis — she can easily have four or five in a night, each one more powerful than the last; they both think she’s capable of multiple but it hasn’t happened yet. 

Maybe with Mike’s help.

She asks him if he wants to keep going but she looks and sounds so sleepy that he doesn’t even consider it. It’d probably take him hours anyway and he’s not sure he’s got the energy, so he tells her no, she should sleep, kisses her goodnight. “Sorry,” she mutters, slotting her back against his chest and making those happy little humming noises he loves so much when he folds his arm around her and pulls her in close. She’s asleep within moments and Harvey makes do with pressing kisses to her shoulder and lazily rutting against her ass until he’s too exhausted to care about still being horny and allows himself to drift off...

~

It’s no great surprise to see Mike bright and bushy-tailed in his office first thing the next morning, gaping at him with eager eyes, mouth open and closing, fish-like, as if he’s about to say something, or ask something, but can’t decide whether or not he should. Harvey has no intention of making it easy for him — he ignores Mike’s ineffectual fluttering and gets straight down to business, reeling off a list of orders and giving him a deadline for completion of ‘by lunch time’.

Harvey takes great pleasure in keeping Mike on his toes, partly because he enjoys constructing hoops to be jumped through just to see the acrobatics Mike’ll perform in order to meet Harvey’s expectations. Partly because it’s what Mike needs and Harvey likes to provide. And he likes how, in this instance, Mike’s curiosity is tempered by uncertainty: Mike wants to know about Rachel but he’s not sure he wants to ask.

Mike doesn’t ask about the previous night, not at first. Not until he’s delivered everything on Harvey’s list and has been given a new set of orders does Mike cave: instead of leaving Harvey’s office and returning to his cubicle, or to seek out Rachel for the lowdown — she’s been working on something for Louis all morning and Harvey knows for a fact Mike hasn’t had an opportunity to speak to her — he loiters near the door, and then gives up on the pretense of playing it cool and walks back towards Harvey’s desk. 

He takes a seat and the words come out fast and ultra-casual. “So how was last night?”

Harvey doesn’t bother keeping the grin off his face. “Good.”

“Cool.” The enthralled stare on Mike’s face nearly makes Harvey laugh. “Did you... what did you do?”

“Had some dinner. That’s about it.”

“Oh. Sounds nice.”

“It was.”

Harvey can hear Mike’s breathing — the shudder in it could be nervousness or arousal, or both. Either way, Harvey likes it. He keeps his eyes fixed on Mike’s face and lets the silence between them fill in the gaps of the conversation. 

Yeah, that’s definitely arousal. 

“Get back to work,” Harvey murmurs, and Mike’s eyes glaze over for a second. When he swallows it makes a clicking sound like his mouth has gone very dry.

“Okay,” Mike says with a nod. He stands up and turns to leave, but not before Harvey catches him adjusting himself in his pants.

~

So by Friday night Harvey’s not too worried about whether or not Mike wants him. His behavior points to sexual attraction, and Harvey doubts it’ll even take much effort on his part to get Mike into bed. Getting Mike to a point where he’s begging for it, however, is another matter entirely. 

What they’re going to do about the secret is…not a conversation Harvey is looking forward to. He knows Rachel well enough by now to know that it’ll crush her and a big part of him wants to keep her in the dark for as long as possible. But Mike’ll never go for it; the kid is sentimental to a fault - no way can he keep fucking someone he’s not being totally honest with, and it’s not like Harvey can argue with that. When it was just Harvey and Rachel, compartmentalizing was as easy as it was necessary: it wasn’t just his secret to tell and coming clean had to be Mike’s decision, not Harvey’s. But now, with the way things have progressed among the three of them, the longer they keep the truth from Rachel the harder she’ll take it when it inevitably comes out. Still, the timing has to be right and Harvey has some opinions about why right now isn’t the time.

Work-wise it’s been a rough week: Hardman, true to form, has been a royal pain up Harvey’s ass, usurping Harvey’s hearing, wooing Mike behind Harvey’s back and orchestrating a situation that resulted in Mike being upset with Harvey, which at this point is not an outcome Harvey finds especially bearable. So he sits Mike down and explains to him exactly who and what Hardman is and why they can never let their guard down around him. Mike seems pleased to be in Harvey’s confidence and satisfied that Harvey’s grudge against Hardman isn’t rooted in pettiness. “But forget him for now,” Harvey says. “Let’s get out of here.” It’s just gone seven and Harvey’s keen to get this party started; the last thing he wants tonight is for either of them to be thinking about Hardman. 

Mike wants to go home first, which isn’t a bad idea — Harvey could use a long, hot shower himself — so they agree to meet at Harvey’s place in a few hours. 

~

As he gels up his hair, post-shower, Harvey shakes his head at his smiling reflection. How lame is it that he’s this excited about the thought of spending a bit of social time with Mike? He really needs to get his shit together — the last thing Mike needs to be made aware of is the extent of his power over Harvey. When the doorbell chimes Harvey takes a few deep, calming breaths before starting the leisurely stroll through the apartment towards the front door.

“Hey,” Mike says, stepping straight into Harvey’s space and pecking him on the lips; and then, without waiting for an invitation, he circles around Harvey and walks into the house. It’s a disarming move, not only surprising Harvey into momentary inertia — he stares after Mike with raised eyebrows — but sending a pulse of arousal through his body. Apparently Mike intends to keep Harvey on his toes tonight.

They’ve both eaten so at least that’s one thing they don’t need to worry about. Mike is chattering away about his budding friendship with Harvey’s doorman Hank. Harvey half-listens, half-plots his next move. He pours them a glass of wine and is about to suggest they take the conversation to the living room when Mike sidles up close and kisses Harvey’s neck. Without thinking Harvey turns towards the touch, and finds himself with a frontful of horny associate. The length of Mike’s body is pressed to Harvey’s and he’s pushing Harvey’s mouth open with his tongue.

Harvey lets Mike grind against him for a few more moments, and then he breaks the kiss and steps out of Mike’s embrace. Mike makes a noise of complaint and Harvey swallows a laugh. “Tempting,” he says. “But we should talk first. Follow me.”

He walks over to the couch, sets their wine glasses on the table and takes a seat. Mike drops into a sprawl in the adjacent armchair, legs spread obscenely, predatory eyes fixed on Harvey.

“I don’t feel like talking right now,” he says. “How about we fuck first and talk later.”

It’s an effort not to let his surprise at Mike’s forwardness show on his face — apparently begging for sex is on the cards after all, and sooner than Harvey might have anticipated — nor can he let his libido take control of the situation. Mike’s suggestion is not without merit; having sex right now, while Mike’s in a needy, greedy frame of mind, would be exciting, and Harvey’s resolve is certainly wavering. But that’s even more reason not to give in. The look Mike’s giving Harvey is getting him hard, and yet, there’s something in Mike’s demeanor that has Harvey studying him: the set of his jaw, the tension in the way he’s holding himself — with a sort of faux-relaxed exhibitionism.

“You’re still angry,” Harvey says.

“So what?” Mike says.

Harvey holds up his palms. “You’re entitled. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t have sex anyway, but before we do that I’d like to hear why.”

Mike sighs and turns his cheek, shaking his head. “Why...” He runs a hand over his face then looks back at Harvey. “It’s not like it was. I’m not as angry as I was a week ago, and I’m mostly on board with what’s happening between us, and with Rachel. But there’s one thing I can’t stop thinking about.”

“What is it?”

“I can’t get past that you went home with her in the first place. You knew how I felt about her, and that it would hurt me, yet you did it anyway. And I trusted you, Harvey; I trusted you both, but you especially. More than anyone. Of all the people I — I’m not sure I’ll ever understand how you could do that to me.”

“I’ll only say this once so enjoy it, but I’m not infallible, Mike. Sometimes I make selfish choices.” Mike rolls his eyes at that, and Harvey probably shouldn’t say it, but Mike needs a reality check, so. “And you did the same thing to Trevor remember, so it’s a little strange that my mistake is so far beyond your comprehension.”

“I knew you’d throw the Trevor thing in my face. But it’s not the same at all and you know it. Trevor was a shitty friend to me, and a shitty boyfriend to Jenny, and Jenny and I, we’d always had feelings for each other — I saw her first for fuck’s sake and Trevor snaked her from me because he’s a fucking asshole. You, on the other hand, are my mentor, you’re supposed to protect me, you’re supposed to be loyal to me the way I am to you, and you are _not_ supposed to pick up the girl I love in a bar and take her home and fuck her, because what? You were bored that night?”

Harvey’s been expecting this, and he has every intention of being entirely honest about why and how he did what he did, but being prepared doesn’t stop Mike’s accusation chafing under his skin. 

“It wasn’t like that,” he says. “I won’t lie to you, Mike, I made the decision knowing it was wrong, but part of the reason I did it is because it was never supposed to be more than a one-time thing and I reasoned, at the time, that you’d never find out about it.”

“Oh right,” Mike says, throwing up his hands. “That makes it okay then.”

“I didn’t say that. I know it wasn’t okay, but…Mike, I don’t regret it. How could I? You wouldn’t be here right now if I hadn’t done it, last weekend wouldn’t have happened, I wouldn’t have Rachel in my life. I _am_ sorry that I hurt you, but I’m not sorry about anything else.” It’s the truth and it renders Mike speechless — he stares at Harvey and it looks as if he wants to keep arguing but isn’t sure what direction he wants to take the conversation, so Harvey ploughs on. “I’ve known — I’ve _been_ with — a lot of intelligent, beautiful women, and that night…I didn’t think it’d be any different with Rachel; I figured we’d go to her place, have a good time, part ways the next morning and then move on with our lives. From where you’re standing, yes, that was a dick move, and I respect your anger. But from my perspective, and Rachel’s, we made a spur of the moment decision that felt right at the time, and neither of us had any idea how intense our connection would be.” And here’s the bit Harvey knows Mike will enjoy. “We bonded over _you_ , Mike, not just in the bar, but in bed. When we talked about you…I’ve never had an experience like that in my life. It threw me for a loop.”

A small smile is forming on Mike’s face. “Go on,” he says, deadpan, but his pleasure at hearing how central he was — and is — to Harvey’s relationship with Rachel is plain as day.

“Of course I wanted to see her again. I had to see her again. Not only did we have something original and special, not only was it exciting pursuing something that I knew I had no right to…it’s _Rachel_. You of all people know what an amazing woman she is. How vulnerable she is, how bright and funny.” He gives Mike a knowing look. “And sexy as hell, Jesus.” Mike’s nodding along. “And you’re here. You’re not jealous. You like this. You want this as much as Rachel and I do.”

“Well now you’re just putting words in my mouth.”

Harvey considers responding with a blowjob joke, but he needs clarification on something first. “Mike, are you jealous?”

Mike shifts about in his seat until he settles on a more comfortable position, eyes moving around the room as if in search of his answer. “God,” he says. “I _was_. Those few weeks after I found out about you two, I was seething with it. Anger, hurt, jealousy, you name it. Fucking haunted by images of you in bed with each other, and you know how clearly I see pictures in my head, Christ, it was fucking torture. It made me want her even more than I had before and I couldn’t believe you were the one who got to be with her. I hated you.”

“And now?”

“And then you two seduced me,” Mike says, an amazed laugh tumbling out of his mouth. “When I realized what was happening…that’s about when I stopped feeling jealous and I haven’t felt jealous since.”

“Good. So…are we cool?”

Mike responds with a slight shrug of his shoulder. “Dunno. Maybe.”

“Do you still want to…” Harvey finishes his sentence with a brief widening of his eyes, making Mike laugh.

“Is it gonna be weird doing this without Rachel here?”

“You didn’t seem to mind when you first arrived.”

“Yeah well I was all pissed off and horny and not thinking clearly.”

“Come here,” Harvey says, patting the space next to him on the couch. It’s obvious Mike doesn’t yet completely trust Harvey, but that’ll come — he and Rachel need to earn it back, and in the meantime, they’ll just have to show Mike a good time. When Mike’s knee is touching his, Harvey asks him, “What would you like to do tonight?” Not because he doesn’t have things planned but he’s curious to hear what Mike’s been thinking about, hoping for, wanting. 

Mike’s hesitant in replying but Harvey doesn’t think it’s because he’s shy, but because he’s wary of Harvey’s ego. It’s one of the reasons Mike is such enchanting company: his attraction to Harvey, sexual or otherwise, is something he battles with. From the beginning Mike has had no problems calling Harvey out on his arrogance or his apathetic facade, qualities that, while infuriating for the people who love him, Harvey knows make him more attractive. He’s been using his emotional unavailability to his advantage for years now.

“I’d like you to…” Mike manages a wry smile, and it’s funny how reluctant he is to admit to Harvey what he wants, but Harvey doesn’t prompt him further. His gaze drops to Mike’s mouth, impure thoughts drifting into his consciousness. “You already know this, which annoys me, but I’d like you to fuck me again.”

Harvey looks back up into Mike’s eyes. “You really enjoyed that, didn’t you.”

There’s a grouchy quality to Mike’s nod and quiet mutter. “Yes.”

“Me too. And I have every intention of doing that for you again. Are you ready to go to the bedroom?”

He’s nodding, standing up. “Yeah, okay.” And Harvey hasn’t forgotten that they haven’t yet broached the subject of Rachel and their secret, but he’s happy to delay that conversation until after the sex.

Harvey follows Mike through the house and into the bedroom and shuts the door behind them. They stand next to the bed, Mike looking at him expectantly. “Take off your clothes,” he says.

On the weekend Harvey noticed how favorably Mike responds to being given orders. Well, okay, he noticed that on their first day working together, but it was interesting to see how much it turned Mike on to be told what to do in the bedroom. And the fact that he doesn’t react to Harvey’s order with anything other than immediate acquiescence and visible arousal, his eyelids drooping as he begins removing his clothing, tells Harvey that his instincts were, as usual, spot on.

Mike drops his t-shirt to the floor and steps out of his jeans, pulls off his socks, and then, before pushing his briefs down, he cups his package and gives himself a firm squeeze. 

“Off,” Harvey murmurs, wanting Mike naked, wanting to see Mike do as he’s told. 

Looking Harvey square in the eye, Mike pushes his underwear down to the ground and kicks it into the pile with the rest of his clothes. His cock is pretty stiff but it’s still slanted downwards.

“Pick up your clothes, fold them, and put them over there on top of the ottoman.” 

Mike gathers up his clothes from the floor, dumps them in a heap onto the bed and then carefully folds each item, stacking them into a neat pile, which he then transfers to the ottoman. Performing the task made his dick harder too, and when he’s back in his original spot standing next to the bed, he’s wavering, glancing at the bed like he’s expecting to be told to climb upon it, but when he doesn’t receive the instruction he apparently decides he needs to do something with his hands, one of which he goes to wrap around his cock.

“Don’t,” Harvey says, and Mike’s arm falls to the side, his eyes wide and alight with a fetching mix of confusion and contrition. “I want to see you get hard without being touched.”

His expression shifts from puzzlement to understanding, and Harvey lets his gaze drop, pretty sure Mike’ll respond well to simply being looked at and admired. He was right: Mike’s cock continues to stiffen until it’s pointing skyward.

“Lie down on the bed.”

“On my back?”

Harvey smiles. “Yes.”

Reclining on the bed, his hands shaking, Mike watches as Harvey takes off his shirt and drops it to the floor, learning that Harvey has no intention of tidying up after himself. 

He unzips his fly and pushes his pants down to just below his balls, stroking himself hard and narrowing his eyes at Mike. “You must be dying to know what I taste like,” he says. At no point last weekend did Mike suck Harvey’s cock. He stroked it on a few occasions, and he rode it at length, but he never took it into his mouth. 

Mike stares between Harvey’s legs, his head bobbing up and down in a gentle nod. “Yeah. I mean, I have thought about it. I’m definitely curious.”

“Rachel loves sucking my cock. You need to find out why.”

Mike glances up at him. “That delicious, is it?”

“Don’t be a smartass.” Harvey steps forward until his thighs are flush against the bed. “Lick it.”

The instruction elicits from Mike a full body shudder and a high-pitched laugh. “Yes, sir,” Mike says, getting up on his hands and knees. He’s still being a smartass, but in this instance Harvey doesn’t mind.

Mike wraps his hand around the base of Harvey’s cock and strokes up and down a few times, staring at it like he’s working up the nerve to actually have a taste. Harvey knows full well that this a first for Mike, that before last weekend he’d never had any kind of sex with men, and that there’s no guarantee Mike will even enjoy giving head just for the sake of giving head. Regardless, Harvey’s certain he knows exactly how to make this an experience Mike will like.

“Show me how good you are at doing as you’re told,” he murmurs, pushing his hips forward until the tip of his cock is mere centimeters away from Mike’s lips. “Do you think you could learn to be as good at it as Rachel is?”

He sees Mike’s eyes actually cross at the suggestion, his breathing audible, and he’s soon panting hot against the swollen flesh of Harvey’s cockhead. And then Mike presses his tongue flat against it, exhaling and moaning as he does it. But he doesn’t start sucking straight away; instead he laps at the skin, small licks fuelled by curiosity, tongue swirling around the head, and then from the base all the way up the entire length… he licks and licks and licks and it feels so good Harvey chokes out a shuddery “fuck” and cards the fingers of both hands through Mike’s hair. 

When Mike has mapped out the entire surface of Harvey’s cock with his tongue, he finally takes it into his mouth and starts to suck, moving sweet wet lips and tongue up and down the shaft, swallowing around it in a way that only intensifies Harvey’s pleasure. Words of encouragement tumble out of Harvey’s mouth. “Good, Mike, very good for a first time. Almost as good as Rachel.” Mike responds by sucking harder, squeezing tighter, working his hand faster on Harvey’s cock. Competitive to the end, and Harvey’s sorely tempted to let Mike finish him off — coming in his mouth would be wonderful — but he shelves that plan for another day (perhaps a lunch hour at the office) because tonight is about showing Mike how great sex can be with Harvey without Rachel playing buffer. He fists his hand in Mike’s hair and pulls him off his cock. “Lie back on the bed.” Harvey says, and finishes undressing.

Climbing astride Mike’s chest Harvey grabs hold of the headboard with one hand and guides his cock back into Mike’s mouth with the other, keeping his thrusts gentle and shallow because he’s not interested in overwhelming Mike at this point, he just wants to watch him take it. Which he does, eagerly, hands clutching Harvey’s thighs for dear life. There are a few times Harvey gets a little too aggressive and Mike gags on him. After which he pulls out to give Mike a chance to catch his breath, rubbing his spit-covered cock all over Mike’s chin and cheeks, getting his face wet and messy with it, until Mike opens his mouth again in invitation and welcomes Harvey back inside. 

“You look good like this,” Harvey tells him, sliding in and out. “My dick in your mouth.”

He could do this all night and he doesn’t even think Mike would complain; when Harvey pulls out for the final time and moves down Mike’s body so he can reward him for his superior effort with a long, passionate kiss, Mike doesn’t look relieved that it’s over, he looks inebriated, like he just got drunk and high on Harvey’s cock and would happily continue indulging. 

The taste of himself on Mike’s lips and tongue is thrilling enough that Harvey can’t stop moving his hips as they kiss, fucking his slippery cock against Mike’s dry one, and groaning into Mike’s mouth.

“You want me inside you, sweetheart?” he whispers. 

Mike chokes out a whimpered, “Yes” and twists beneath Harvey in an attempt to get onto his stomach, a reaction so pure and honest and desperate, Harvey has to allow it. Levering himself up on one hand he shifts his body to the side to give Mike space to arrange himself how he wants, propped up on his forearms with his ass in the air, up on his knees and his legs spread wide. 

As Harvey stretches his arm to reach for the bottle of lube sitting on top of the bedside table, Mike pants out, “I got tested this week. I’m clean. And so is Rachel.” 

A moot point really, given that all three of them had given up using condoms by Saturday morning last weekend, but the sentiment is very much appreciated. Harvey’s always been a safety first kind of lover, and had gotten tested the day before his second date with Rachel, even though they continued practicing safe sex for weeks into their relationship. And then they’d showered together one morning a few weeks back and Harvey had given into his lust and renounced his own dictum, sliding into her without a condom with the intention of pulling out after that initial thrust and insisting they take it back to the bedroom. Only it had felt so incredible and Rachel had gone so wild for it that he didn’t stop, couldn’t stop, he kept fucking into her and very nearly came inside her, only pulling out at the very last second in response to Rachel’s breathless reminder that she wasn’t on the pill.

“Good,” he says, kneeling between Mike legs and having a good look at the dark crevice between his round buttocks. Ass cheeks slightly parted and he’s almost on display although Harvey’ll need to pull them apart a little further to properly see Mike’s hole; but he’s got a good view of his perineum and the plump, pink balls dangling between his legs. Harvey squirts some lube onto his fingertips and slips them inside Mike’s crack, eliciting a plea from Mike for Harvey to hurry please god hurry, so when his finger breaches Mike’s body Harvey’s forced to scold him for being greedy and impatient. It only makes Mike moan louder and fuck back on Harvey’s fingers fast and urgent, whispering _yeah yeah yeah_ when Harvey plunges in harder, deeper, faster, watching his fingers thrust in and out of Mike’s needy body until it gets too much, he can’t hold back any longer.

He gets in position and slides his cock all the way inside.

Holding himself still, deep in Mike’s body, he wraps his arms around Mike’s torso and kisses his neck, soaking up the blissful sensations and basking in the stimulating cheer of Mike’s helpless chanting 

_ohgodohgodohgod_

When he starts to move Harvey resumes their conversation. “Have you been thinking about this a lot?”

“Yeah…a lot…”

“When?”

“Every night…me and Rachel talked about it too…and one time at work I got so turned on thinking about it I had to go jerk off in the bathroom.”

“Oh fuck—” Faster…

“Yes Harvey yes, harder please do it harder—” Harder…

“Mike, if you ever need it while you’re at work you come to me.” Deeper… “I’ll always take care of you.” He’s vaguely aware that he shouldn’t be making promises he can’t keep, but the way it makes Mike wail beneath him is all the proof he needs that it was the right thing to say. “I’ll always give you what you need.”

Harvey flattens Mike onto the bed, balancing on his knees and pounding into him as hard as he possibly can, Mike just taking it, desperate for it, his grateful, ecstatic shouts reverberating around the room. 

“Gonna come,” Harvey gasps, so close he might explode into flames. “Uh, gonna come…” One more thrust…another…a third…

He slumps onto Mike’s slippery-wet back, holding his shuddering cock inside Mike’s ass as his orgasm slowly, blissfully subsides. When he pulls out he quickly replaces his cock with his fingers, sliding them in and out of Mike’s mucky hole, pushing all the fluid seeping out of his ass right back inside him.

Satisfied that Mike’s as full of Harvey’s semen as is humanly possible, Harvey lets him roll onto his back. “You good?” he asks him.

Mike’s eyes fall shut and the smile on his face is dopey with euphoria. “Fuck yeah.”

“You wanna come?”

“Yes please.”

Harvey bends over and takes Mike’s cock in his mouth, fisting and sucking it with vigor and it takes approximately thirty seconds for Mike’s body to arch and a burst of liquid to fill Harvey’s mouth, Mike’s strangled cry of pleasure the perfect accompaniment. He swallows Mike’s orgasm and then continues licking and kissing and sucking Mike’s cock until he’s pushed away with a complaint of, “Ah. Sensitive.”

They climb under the covers and Harvey pulls Mike into his arms, listening to the slackening pace of his breathing and feeling himself sink towards a state of slumber. 

But then Mike says, his voice a husky croak, “That was so fucking good. Damn.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Oh God,” Mike says, as if he’s just remembered something unfortunate but is too sleepy to know what to do with it. Harvey knows what’s coming. “We have to talk about Rachel. About what we’re going to tell her.”

Harvey kisses Mike’s temple and cheekbone, rubs his palm in a circle around Mike’s torso. “In the morning. I’m wiped out, let’s sleep now. We’ll figure the rest out tomorrow.”

“Yeah okay.”

Harvey drifts off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mel did such an amazing job betaing this chapter and I'm so grateful to her – thanks to her insightful comments it is tighter and better and, most importantly, it makes sense. 
> 
> Also, fair warning, while this story is set during the events of season 2, I’ve fucked about with the timeline quite a bit.

Harvey is awake before Mike so he gets up and throws on some sweats, and then heads out for pastries and bagels, eventually returning to bed with a tray full of food, juice and coffee. 

“So that’s where you went,” Mike croaks, pushing himself up into a sitting position and reaching for a bagel. “Thanks Harvey.”

Okay so maybe Harvey’s still in seduction mode.

He strips again and climbs back into bed. 

“Now’s not the right time to tell Rachel,” he says, taking a bite of his own bagel.

“Harvey,” Mike says, his brow creasing. 

“Has she told you she’s taking the LSATs on Wednesday?”

“What?” His eyebrows shoot up. “She is? No, I didn’t–” He’s shaking his head but a small, pleased smile is forming on his face. “That’s awesome, she’ll do great.”

“Agreed. As long as we don’t disrupt her preparations with the news that you’re a fraud.”

He nods. “Okay, I’m okay with that. We’ll wait until after the exam.”

Harvey tilts his head and squints. “Oo-or…”

“No, Harvey. It has to be soon. I’m not like you; I can’t be with someone I’m lying to every day. ”

“Hear me out.” Mike gives him a wary look. “We need to tell her, I know we do. But I propose we wait until after she’s got her results.”

“Harvey! That’s another three weeks away, and what if she doesn’t do well? What, that’s when we choose to break her heart even more?”

“It’s not gonna—“ 

“Oh really? You don’t think this will make her hate us?”

“The point is she’s not going to fail.”

“Yeah I hope you’re right, but I don’t get why you think waiting is a good idea. The longer we delay the worse it’ll be – the worse _we’ll_ be. Why not just tell her as soon as possible? Unless you’re scared.”

“You’re not?“ Harvey counters. “You don’t think it’d be a good idea to let this relationship settle into something functional before we rock the boat with the news that you’re not who she thinks you are?”

“And neither are you.”

“Look, I’m not talking about months here – you’re right that leaving it too long will be counterproductive. But you’ve only been seeing us a week, Mike, and holding off telling her for a few more weeks won’t make any real difference. In fact, if you really think about it, the longer we’re all together, the harder it’ll be for her to leave.”

“Wow,” Mike says, shaking his head, his lips pursed. “You’re unbelievable. Before last weekend I had no idea you were so manipulative.”

That stings a little, maybe because Harvey can’t deny that some of his recent decisions have, ethically speaking, been a tad sketchy, but as far as he’s concerned his motives are pure. “Mike, I’m recommending this course of action because I love her and I don’t want to lose her.”

“Yeah I really don’t see her being okay with that defence. ‘Sorry for lying to you the entire time we were sleeping together, Rach, it’s only ‘cause I love ya!’”

“Well for a start, we won’t phrase it quite like that.”

Mike huffs out a reluctant laugh but then his expression turns serious. “Harvey,” he says. “What if she doesn’t make the grade? Seriously. We still tell her, right?”

It’s a scenario Harvey tries not to dwell on, but sticking his head in the sand and pretending like it’s not a real possibility is an affront to the realist in him. So after a few moments of glowering at Mike, Harvey nods. “Yes. Maybe not that same day, but we’ll tell her within the week.”

Mike’s shaking his head. “This does not seem like a good plan to me.”

“You got a better one?”

“Not really. I do see where you’re coming from, I just— God, what if she can’t forgive me for this?”

“She will,” Harvey says. “I promise. And she’ll ace the LSATs too, I’m sure of it.” 

It’s a good time for a change of subject so Harvey steers the conversation around to work, and they’re soon deep in discussion about Louis and his fractured relationship with the associate pool, which Mike happily blames entirely on Louis’s disrespectful and contemptuous treatment of his underlings, but which Harvey, feeling more generous than usual in the wake of his tête-à-tête with Louis the other night, argues that Louis’s ire is exactly what that self-pitying, candy-ass bunch of automatons deserves. There’s nothing more fun in life than friendly disagreement with Mike and they’re soon laughing as much they’re bickering. 

The conversation lulls and Harvey reaches over and runs a hand through Mike’s hair. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah,” Mike says with a grin. “Too good. I forgot where I was.”

“Occupational hazard?”

“Are you calling me a whore, Harvey?”

Harvey trails his hand down Mike’s chest, slips it under the covers and picks up his flaccid cock. “If the shoe fits.”

“So now I’m Cinderella.” He closes his eyes, moving his hips into Harvey’s touch with a groan. 

Once Harvey’s got him hard, he takes his hand away, says, “Let’s move this.” Slipping off the bed, he transfers the tray to the floor and then climbs back in between Mike’s legs. “You’re so sexy,” he whispers, leaning down and kissing him on the mouth. 

Moaning between Harvey’s kisses, Mike bends his knees and lifts his thighs off the bed, spread open and ready.

“God, you’re insatiable,” Harvey groans. He slicks himself up as fast as he can and pushes his cock into the hot clench of Mike’s ass, his breath coming out in great shudders as he pumps inside. 

They make out while they move and Harvey can feel Mike’s knuckles rubbing fast against his belly, as he jacks his cock, and soon they’re both coming, within seconds of each other.

~

After showering together Harvey lends Mike a pair of sweatpants to wear – “for easy access” he tells him with a wink – and they settle down in the living room to do some work, Harvey on his laptop and Mike reading through briefs with his highlighter at the ready. Seeing Mike look so comfortable, as if he belongs in Harvey’s space, as if there’s nowhere else he’d rather be, gives Harvey a bone-deep sense of contentment. The only thing missing is Rachel, so Harvey shoots her a text telling her to get her butt over to the apartment asap. Her response: _I’ll be there in a few hours. Don’t wear Mike out too much. Xoxo (shall I bring food?)_

_Yes bring food x_

“Rachel’s bringing us dinner in a few hours,” he tells Mike.

Mike’s face lights up. “Awesome. I can’t wait to see her.”

~

At four o’clock Mike has abandoned his work and is attempting to distract Harvey. His mouth on Harvey’s ear, sucking on the lobe, murmuring, “I’m horny.” 

Harvey chuckles and replies, “You’re always horny,” before turning his face towards Mike and accepting a kiss. 

“Like you’re complaining,” Mike says, flopping onto his back and pushing down the front of his sweatpants to show Harvey his erection. 

“Mm, very nice,” Harvey says, standing up and offering his hand. “Come with me.” Mike lets himself be tugged to his feet and led into the kitchen. “Brace yourself against the counter.” Gripping the counter edge in his hands, Mike arches his back. “That’s good.” Harvey hooks his thumbs into the waistband of Mike’s sweats and pulls them down to below his ass, and then he fetches the olive oil from the cupboard and trickles it down Mike’s crack, slicking him thoroughly and then inserting a finger. He’s still nice and stretched out from last night and this morning’s sessions so Harvey doesn’t waste any more time. He pushes his own sweats down to mid-thigh, strokes his oily hand up and down his cock until he’s hard enough, and lines himself up, enjoying the gorgeous, helpless noises Mike makes when he’s being filled up with cock. 

He takes his time, moving slow and going deep, each grunt and gasp and _oh yeah_ Mike utters making Harvey hope this never ends. 

They’ve been at it for maybe ten minutes when the doorbell goes. 

“It’s Rachel,” Harvey says, pulling out. 

Mike responds with a drowsy, “Yay,” and Harvey tells him not to move. He tugs his sweatpants back up over his erection as Mike pushes his own sweats down and steps out of them.

Opening the door to a grinning Rachel, carrying shopping bags full of food in both hands, Harvey says, “Hey beautiful. About goddamn time.” He takes the bags off her and kisses her on the mouth. 

She glances down at the tent he’s pitching in his pants with a raised eyebrow. “I hope that’s for me,” she says.

“Of course,” Harvey replies. “Come on, Mike’s waiting for us in the kitchen.”

He leads the way and places the shopping on the counter, Rachel moving into the kitchen to greet Mike – who is now completely naked. After they’ve finished kissing, she says, “Tell me the truth, have you two been having sex all day long?”

“Not all day,” Mike says. “We took a short break to do some work.”

She laughs. “That’s my boys. Why don’t you go back to what you were doing before I arrived while I put the food away.”

“Yeah?” Mike says. “You wanna watch us?”

“I do.”

Mike resumes his position and Harvey moves back behind him, lowering his pants and pushing his cock back inside. He watches Rachel unpack the groceries and put things in the fridge, smiling at the way she’s essentially performing the task blind because she’s unable to tear her eyes away from rhythmic grind of Mike and Harvey’s bodies. When the food has been dealt with she comes to their side, staring down between them at Harvey’s cock sliding in and out of Mike’s hole, captivated and murmuring her appreciation. And then she places her hand on Harvey’s ass and squeezes it, holds it, feels him moving into Mike, her fingers creeping between his legs to fondle his balls.

“Give me your hand,” Harvey says, and she does. He guides it to his groin. “Feel that.” Understanding perfectly what Harvey wants her to do, she grips the root of his cock between her thumb and middle finger so she can feel him entering Mike, her fingers meeting the stretched out rim of Mike’s hole each time Harvey thrusts inside. 

“Oh fuck, Rachel,” Mike breathes out. “What does that feel like?”

“It feels just as good as it looks.”

“What do we look like?” Mike asks.

“Beautiful,” she says.

“So fucking good,” Harvey agrees. “Rachel, baby…”

“Yes Harvey?”

“Get on your knees.”

She looks up at him, eyes wide and pupils dilated, her mouth falling open as it hits her what Harvey’s asking of her. She nods, leans up and kisses him and then drops to a crouch, dragging Mike’s discarded sweats towards herself, folding them into a makeshift cushion and then kneeling on it. Harvey pulls out of Mike and turns to her, placing a hand on Mike’s lower back. 

“Mike, turn around and watch this.” When he’s facing them and gaping down at Rachel’s position on the floor, Harvey points his cock at Rachel’s face, edges forward and slides it over her tongue and into the slick heat of her mouth.

“Oh fuck,” Mike says, and he’s staring in awe down at Rachel as she swallows Harvey down.

“Watch this,” Harvey says, holding Rachel’s head. “Take it all, sweetheart.” He pushes his cock all the way into her throat until her lips meet his groin. And then he pulls out completely so she can catch her breath. “Isn’t she amazing.” She’s panting hard and smiling up at them, proud and horny and perfect.

Mike can’t stop chanting _fuck fuck fuck oh fuck_ under his breath while Harvey thrusts his cock down Rachel’s throat a few more times, before easing off and ceding control, letting her set her own pace, her head bobbing up and down in a steady, gorgeous rhythm as she sucks his slippery cock and jacks him at the same time with her hands. 

“How does that taste?” Harvey asks her. 

She pulls off and looks up at them from beneath long black eyelashes. “Like olive oil,” she says, drowsy gaze swerving between the two of them. 

They all crack up.

Mike moves forward and offers her his own cock. “Suck it, Rach,” he says and Rachel takes him in her mouth, and then he grabs her head with one of his hands and pushes his dick all the way in, just as Harvey had done. 

“ _God_ yes,” Harvey says.

After that she alternates between them, stroking one while she sucks the other.

“Dirty girl. You like the taste of Mike’s ass on my cock?” Harvey asks the next time he’s in her mouth, and Mike makes a high-pitched gasp next to him.

“Fuck, Harvey, the things you say,” he chokes out, his hand moving rapidly on himself and then he’s coming, spurting out all over Rachel’s cheek, and then onto the side of Harvey’s cock so that when Rachel goes back down her lips slide through the mess. She releases Harvey’s cock and then laps it all off, while Mike drags his fingers across her cheek, spooning up his spunk, and then shoving it into her mouth and feeding her. 

It’s so fucking sexy Harvey can’t hold back any longer, he lets himself go, coming in her mouth and all over her chin with a breathless groan, as she gulps down his load with barely a wince.

She stands up, cross-eyed and panting. “Now one of you is going to get me off,” she says, heading for the bedroom without a second glance behind her, shedding her clothes as she walks. They follow her and climb after her into bed and when she’s on her back with her legs spread wide open, Harvey lies on his side and watches Mike eat her out. It takes less than a minute before she’s calling out to God and coming all over his face.

~

The rest of the evening is similarly indulgent. It’s different from last weekend: no longer a novelty, they three are now a habit. Mike has put aside his anxiety about the secret and relaxed into his fate; he’s happy to be there, slotting himself into the relationship like it couldn’t be more normal.

Harvey reclines on the bed and watches Mike and Rachel engage in an extended bout of naked wrestling that keeps reducing them both into fits of breathless giggles. This is followed by Rachel cooking them tacos for dinner, with Harvey employed as her Sous-Chef, and Mike providing a running commentary of the action, while glugging down a ‘98 Bordeaux without remotely appreciating it, from his seated position across the counter. Once they’ve cleared up their plates and the dishwasher is whirring away they take off their clothes again and head outside to the balcony where they spend the next few hours playing in Harvey’s hot tub and drinking their way through two bottles of champagne.

“How much do I love that you have a hot tub,” Mike says as he descends into it, his grin blinding. 

“ _We_ have a hot tub,” Rachel declares, and Harvey doesn’t correct her because it’s true. 

And this is the life. 

It doesn’t get better than this.

~

Harvey’s awake first the next morning and he leaves the others in bed and heads out for a run around the park. When he returns to the fold he walks in on Mike and Rachel making love; Mike is on top and moving slowly, their mouths locked together in an endless kiss that muffles their moans of pleasure. Harvey’s cock twitches but he’s reluctant to disrupt them so he sits on the edge of the bed and watches instead. They mumble out their good mornings when he first enters the room, but are otherwise too occupied with each other to notice his presence. He doesn’t mind.

~

Harvey doesn’t see as much of Rachel over the next few weeks as he’d like, thanks to work kicking his ass. Like a virus he can’t shake, Travis Tanner has resurfaced, for the sole purpose of making Harvey’s life a misery, and Harvey’s schedule turns unforgiving and antisocial. This, though, is the path he chose, these are his priorities, and historically his personal life has suffered as a result. Except now he’s dating people who not only understand the kinds of hours he has to put in, but who, more often than not, work those hours with him. Rachel may only be a peripheral member of his team to the casual observer, but to Harvey she’s utterly essential; he’s been insisting on her assistance with his cases more and more in recent weeks, so that even if they don’t get a lot of face time at the office, he takes comfort in the knowledge that she’s on his side, sharing his goals, and working to the same end. 

Monday and Tuesday night he and Mike are in the office until eleven, after which they go their separate ways simply in order to get a good night’s sleep, and on Wednesday they skip out early to take Rachel for her post-exam dinner at Momofuku Ko. Much to Harvey’s relief she’s in high spirits and feels positive about how it went, and her mood is so contagious Harvey manages to forget his worries for a while; the three of them have several glasses of wine and end up back at Harvey’s place, not getting to sleep until well after 2am. 

They work all weekend but still ensure they spend their precious downtime together, meeting up at Harvey’s place on Friday and Saturday for late night takeouts, alcohol, and sex. 

And things refuse to calm down at work – turns out the memo that would have shattered Harvey’s entire line of defense on the Coastal Motors case four years ago, the one that Tanner accused Harvey of burying, was signed off by _Donna_. He’d have never thought it possible for her to make a mistake so potentially damaging to him, but worse than that, she’s so distraught about it she very nearly destroys the evidence. Disaster is averted only because Mike catches her hovering, pale-faced, near the shredder, the incriminating document in her hand. He demands she tell him what’s going on, and then marches her to Harvey’s office and stares her down until she confesses. 

Harvey is unable to contain how furious he is with her, and a yelling match ensues. “I wouldn’t have been able to protect you! Do you get that?”

She does, and even though she’s too proud to admit it, he knows she’s sorry.

~

A few weeks later, on a Tuesday, Harvey gives Mike and Rachel keys to his condo, as well as the code to his private elevator, so they can come and go as they please, a gesture that seems to surprise neither of them. Rachel simply beams and says, “Thanks sweetie, see you tonight,” despite them not having plans, and Mike attaches it to his key ring right there and then and says, “Can I have a drawer and some closet space too?” 

Sure enough when Harvey arrives home late that night, exhausted and cranky, Rachel is waiting for him. She’s poured him a scotch and drawn him a bath. He sits between her legs while she sponges him all over and scrubs his back with a bath brush. Afterwards she rubs him down with a towel and then massages body cream into every inch of his skin. She puts him to bed and jerks him off until he comes and then she mops up the mess all over his belly with a tissue, and as he drifts off to sleep he tells her he loves her.

~

After another endless day in the office, Mike goes home with him the next night. He’s a lot more demanding than Rachel was but Harvey loves him just the same.

~

On Thursday Rachel stalks into Harvey’s office at six thirty with wide, panicked eyes, Mike on her heels like an excited puppy, and she thrusts an envelope into Harvey’s chest, before beginning to pace around the room with her hands on her head. 

“It’s her LSATs results,” Mike explains. 

“ _Oh_ ,” Harvey says, donning his best poker face. No way will he show her how scared he is right now. “What are you waiting for?” He holds it out to her.

“I can’t,” she says, her terrified excitement so contagious Harvey can actually hear his own heart beating in his ears. “I can’t do it.” She turns and looks imploringly at Mike. “ _Mike_.”

“Okay, okay, give it to me.” The three of them walk towards each other until they’re standing in a close circle. Mike takes the envelope and then Harvey grabs Rachel’s hand in his own and holds on for dear life. He doesn’t give a shit right now if anyone walks past the office and sees.

“If I get below 160 don’t even tell me. Just throw it away, I don’t wanna know,” she says.

Mike opens the envelope and pulls out the letter, unfolds it, takes a look, and then his face breaks into a huge grin. “172,” he says to Rachel. “You did it.”

Rachel literally flails, jumping into the air with a squeal, and then the three of them are hugging and laughing and Harvey’s picking her up and spinning her and Mike is wrapping her up in his arms and kissing her on the mouth. Donna bursts in to join them, making a beeline for Rachel and giving her a hug, and Harvey overhears her suggesting they get together for drinks soon without these two idiots tagging along so they can properly catch up, which makes Rachel’s entire face light up with happiness.

~

It’s far too early to leave work for the day but they do anyway, meeting at the elevators, each unable to keep their grins at bay. Once the elevator doors close in front of them, Harvey finally gives Rachel the kiss he’s been holding on to since they got the news. Then he asks her what she feels like doing tonight.

“Anything you want,” he says.

“What I really want?” she replies, “Is to go back to your place, order in food, have a few drinks, and just be together. I don’t want anyone else around us tonight.”

Mike entirely supports this plan, and so when they slide into the backseat of Ray’s car with Rachel in the middle of them, Harvey tells Ray to take them to the apartment.

Harvey hasn’t told Ray what’s going on with the three of them but only because it isn’t necessary: Rachel’s been a regular passenger of his for several weeks and this is now the third time he’s driven them all to Harvey’s apartment. Ray’s tactful enough not to betray any judgment he might be feeling, talking to them as amiably as ever, like nothing is amiss, and Harvey shows him the same respect by not making his situation any more obvious than he absolutely has to.

Which is why he keeps his voice low when he says to Rachel, “There’s something we can do tonight that we haven’t done yet. Something I know you’ve been looking forward to.”

Her eyes widen and the unmistakable flash of desire in them makes Harvey smile with satisfaction. “Yes,” she says, her voice already slightly breathless. “We can do that tonight?”

He gives her the barest of nods, noticing the growing bulge in Mike’s pants, Mike’s hand snaking in between Rachel’s legs, his lips on her neck. 

It’s Harvey’s own fault for bringing it up right now, in the car, but really, none of them should be getting aroused, or engaging in any kind of sexual activity, in the presence of Ray. He’s on the verge of telling Mike to knock it off, when Mike whispers into Rachel’s ear, loud enough for Harvey to hear but hopefully not for Ray to: “You want us both inside you?”

Rachel actually moans, grabs Mike’s hand and shoves it between her thighs.

“Hey,” Harvey says, quiet but firm. “Stop that. Save it for when we’re alone.” He’s getting hard himself and those visuals aren’t helping. 

With sheepish understanding they back off from each other but Mike doesn’t stop caressing Rachel’s thigh for the remainder of the journey, and when Rachel rests a hand at the top of Harvey’s thigh and lightly strokes his cock with her pinky finger he allows it. 

~

By the time they make it home they’re all so turned on the moment the elevator doors close behind them they move into each other. Mike pressed to Rachel’s back while Harvey kisses Rachel breathless. Both he and Mike whispering how proud they are of her, how brilliant she is, how clever and talented, and all she can do is moan with pleasure, and accost their clothes, which they leave strewn behind them, in the elevator and all through the house, on their way to the bedroom.

When she’s laid on the bed, naked and writhing and beautiful, Mike and Harvey either side of her, kissing and touching her, Harvey stroking her wet pussy while Mike sucks on her nipples. Harvey recognizes the signs — she’s edging closer and closer to orgasm and he’d like to delay that happening until they’re both inside her, so he tells Mike to get the lube. They haven’t discussed it but Harvey wants Mike to have her ass, mainly because, as far as he knows, Mike hasn’t fucked her ass yet, while Harvey has. Several times.

On his return Mike urges Rachel onto her side, facing Harvey with her back to him. Harvey keeps fingering her pussy as Mike inserts a finger into her ass. “Does that feel good, sweetheart?” Harvey asks her.

“So good,” she slurs out and she’s so aroused she seems barely capable of speech. “Please, Harvey. Can I have your cock now?”

“Yeah,” he says with a quick nod, falling onto his back in invitation. She clambers up on her knees and swings a leg over Harvey’s lap, sinking down onto him with a sigh of relief. Mike moves in behind her, fucking her ass with his fingers while she rides Harvey’s cock. 

“Mike,” she pants. “I need you inside me too.”

“You sure you’re ready?” he says, but he’s already removed his fingers and is getting into position, on his knees between Harvey’s legs. 

“Yes, God, I’ve been ready for this for months.”

“Okay, just.” Mike says. “Just stop moving for a second.”

When Mike’s cock enters Rachel’s ass her mouth falls open and stays open, her eyes cross, and she chokes out a gasp. “Oh God. Oh my God,” she whispers. “I can’t believe this is happening.” She falls forward onto Harvey’s chest and kisses him, and they start to move, slow at first until they figure out their rhythm. 

The graze of Mike’s balls against his own makes Harvey groan and he holds Rachel’s face in his hands so he can devour her mouth, Mike chanting behind her, “You like our cocks in you? You like being fucked by us both? Oh fuck yeah you’re so fucking hot—“

She comes with a wail, and Harvey keeps moving, Mike keeps moving, they don’t let her rest. Mike collects her hair in his hand and twists it around his fist, holding onto it as he fucks in harder, and then only seconds later, fifteen at most, she’s coming again, with the same orgasmic wail, her face an absolute wreck of bliss. Moving between them like she’s no longer in control, with Harvey’s urgent whisper filling the humid air _god yeah come on baby keep going you’re so sexy_ , and it’s not long before she’s coming a third time, her cries getting louder, every muscle in her body in continual spasm, her fingers a tight grasp on Harvey’s shoulders. “Mike don’t stop,” Harvey urges. “We need to keep fucking her.” And just as her muscles start to relax and the tension seems to be leaving her body, she cries out again, jerking forward, her breasts bouncing off Harvey’s chest. 

Harvey loses count after a while but they manage to keep her orgasming for something like fifteen minutes, at which point neither of them can hold back any longer and they come too. 

Afterwards, once he’s caught his breath enough to speak again, Mike tells them that Rachel came twenty one times. 

“I should ace the LSATs more often,” she says, the dopiest, happiest smile on her face. “You two are total fucking studs, by the way. Thank you so much.”

They laugh and tell her she’s welcome. 

“You were pretty goddamn amazing yourself,” Mike says. “Has that happened to you before?”

“No it has not. Jesus Christ.” She’s still panting. “That was the best…experience…ever. I hope it wasn’t a one off.”

“Not if I have anything to do with it,” Harvey says. 

“Nor I,” says Mike, tossing a point to the ceiling with a dramatic flourish. “It is our mission henceforth to give you multiple orgasms as often as humanly possible.”

“God,” she says, screwing up her nose. “There is a lot of come dripping out of me right now.”

Mike chuckles out the word ‘gross’ while Harvey cranes his neck to try and catch a peek. And then Mike declares, “I am so not sleeping in the wet patch this time.”

Harvey actually wouldn’t object to forgoing dinner and going straight to sleep, but Rachel and Mike are both hungry and much younger than him, so after a short doze he forces himself to wake up, gets out of bed and fetches his laptop so they can order some dinner, while Mike heads off to the kitchen for a bottle of wine and three glasses.

They eat and drink and laugh and chat.

~

But there’s still the secret. 

Mike and Harvey don’t bring it up on the night of the LSATs success and the multiple orgasms, because when someone is winning that immensely hard at life, when someone you love is that freaking happy, you don’t fuck with that, not if you’re a decent human being. There is no just reason in the world to taint Rachel’s experience with any kind of negativity. So Harvey doesn’t remind Mike about their looming fate, and Mike doesn’t bring it up either.

Funny thing is, until Rachel walked into his office with that precious envelope in her hand Harvey had successfully kept his head free of regret. He’s been rationalizing this deception for so long it’s become second nature to lie about it. And not just to those not in the know, but to Donna. To Jessica. To Mike. 

To himself.

He knows it’s not okay, he knows what he did was wrong. He knows it can’t end well.

They’re so fucking doomed all he _can_ do is pretend they’re not. 

~

At ten o’clock on Friday night they jump in a cab and go to Rachel’s house to feed the cat and spend some time with him, because Rachel claims he gets really upset when she’s not around for days at a time, which has been happening more and more in recent months. When Rachel’s away Trudy takes care of Orson but Rachel feels so guilty not being there for him every day, and watching the two of them together is very cute. Orson’s in kitty heaven with his mistress back in his orbit and he won’t leave her alone, rubbing his face all over her, demanding strokes and kisses, purring like a maniac. 

Trudy’s not coming home at all — she’s visiting her parents in the suburbs — and Rachel’s delighted to finally be hanging out at her place instead of Harvey’s; apparently Harvey’s is overrated, an assertion Mike immediately agrees with. Harvey’d be offended but he can’t deny the appeal of Rachel’s cozy little apartment. And the cat is hilarious — Mike is even making some headway into forcing a relationship on him. He’s still deeply suspicious of them both but he occasionally glides past close enough to be touched so Harvey and Mike can offer their humbled, outstretched palms for him to pass under.

They share a pizza, drink some beers, make Mike watch an episode of _Keeping Up With The Kardashians_. And then they relocate to the bedroom.

Mike gives him a look while Rachel’s taking off her dress; a look that says, ‘are we gonna do it now?’ to which Harvey responds with a swipe of his hand that says, ‘soon, but not quite yet.’

They get naked instead, and Rachel climbs on top of Mike while Harvey strokes their skin and talks dirty to them. 

~

Rachel nips out to the bathroom. 

“Harvey,” Mike says. “We have to do it now. You promised it would be tonight. I know you’re scared but it doesn’t matter anymore. Your fear does not trump her right to know.”

Harvey hears the distant sound of a toilet flushing beneath the music playing low on Rachel’s iPod; it’s something with a mellow R&B flavor that Harvey vaguely recognizes from one of their music education sessions. Their taste in music is very compatible (more so than Harvey and Mike’s) and Harvey loves watching Rachel sit cross-legged in front of his home vinyl, floor dancing with jelly arms, buzzing with the excitement of a kid in a candy store as she sifts through his collection. She knows an impressive number of the artists too, even some of the rarer names, like The Five Keys, Sheri Washington, Louis Jordan – her dad’s into Blues too, Rachel thinks he and Harvey might even get on okay when they eventually meet. Her taste is both more urban than Harvey’s and more refined, but he was surprised to discover that he genuinely likes the hip hop and R&B, even the opera, that she’s into, and he loves that they both get excited about soul and funk, dancing together in the apartment through so many songs they break a sweat, spinning round and around because the music’s so good and he’s with the person he loves and this is what happiness is. 

Harvey’s chest feels tight and his head burns. Guileless blue eyes stare back at him. “Okay,” he says, and now there’s no going back. No talking him out of it. No more denial.

She walks back in the room, stark naked, which Harvey hadn’t particularly noticed before but now it seems strange. Out of place. Because they’re about to have a serious, potentially emotional conversation and they’re not wearing clothes. They’re in Rachel’s bed and none of them are wearing clothes. He glances at Mike and it’s apparent that he’s working his way through the same thought process and reaching all the same conclusions, but there’s no way to change things now. There’s no stopping what has to be done. 

“Rachel,” Mike says, “We need to talk to you about something.”

She’s slipping into bed next to Harvey, smiling at them like she doesn’t have a care in the world. “What’s up?”

“It’s big. Can you… Is it possible for you to sit opposite me? Like at the end of the bed so we’re sitting in a triangle?”

Her face is falling by increment. She senses the doom in the air. She moves to the end of the bed, the duvet cover over her lap and her breasts bared.

Mike runs a hand through his hair. “Rachel, I don’t know how to tell you this but I have to, because I love you and I can’t lie to you and I want you to know who I am. I’m not—” He sounds so worried. Harvey drifts away from the circle until he’s floating high above them and looking down on the scene, watching fine cracks begin to materialize all over this perfect thing that he built from scratch. “I’m a fraud.” The cracks deepen. “I never went to Harvard, I never went to any law school. I’m not a real lawyer.”

The news takes approximately forty seconds to sink in. She is silent for about that length of time, but it’s all right there in her eyes, a dawning horror accompanied by the sickening realization that the horror is only going to get worse the longer the truth is out there. The implications of what Mike has just told her are far-reaching, and devastating for her in ways Harvey has refused to acknowledge until this moment. And now, finally, he’s getting punished for his outrageous deception, in a way he’d never have imagined possible all those months ago, when Mike walked into his life. If someone had told him then that in eight months his decision would break the heart of the woman they both love, he’d have rolled his eyes.

“ _What?_ ”

How is this possible? she wants to know. She’s putting the pieces together, all the things that didn’t quite add up before but that she hadn’t been motivated to examine, they’re all coming together in her head. She’s agitated, unable to sit still, itching to get away from them. She gets out of bed and pulls on a robe, ties it tightly at the waist. She stays standing, and Harvey’d give anything to be dressed now, they’re ridiculous, sitting under her covers in her bed, having just fucked her, naked and stinking of sex, while she paces back and forth in front of the foot of the bed.

Mike tells the story exactly how it happened. Every detail perfectly remembered. Harvey pitches in where relevant.

How could you do this?

_How have you kept this from me?_

Oh my God, did you _plan_ to wait until after I got my results?

“Who knows?” she demands. “Does Donna know?”

Harvey nods. “Of course.”

“Of course Donna knows? But of course I don’t? Because why would you tell me? You’ve been putting your dick in every one of my holes for the past three months but of course _Donna_ knows?” 

Harvey’s never seen her this angry. Has she ever been this angry? “Rachel, it wasn’t my secret to tell.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now? _You hired him._ This is _all_ on you.”

Rachel.

“Stop saying my name like that, like I need to calm down, like I’m being unreasonable here. _Rachel_ ,” she mocks, and then her words come out in sobs. “You’re breaking the law. You’re breaking the law.” She stares at Mike like all the life has drained out of her eyes. “You don’t deserve this life. You didn’t earn it.”

“I know,” Mike says. “I know.” 

The room falls silent.

Eventually Mike speaks again. “Rachel,” he says. “There’s a bright side.”

“What’s that?” She sounds so defeated.

Mike turns his palms up, looking at Harvey and then back at Rachel. “Us.”

Rachel nods. “You need to get out,” she says. “Both of you.” Harvey knows she wants them out so she can cry, and he’s so damn frustrated he wants to punch something. He hates that he’s the last person in the world who can make things better for her right now.

She walks out of the bedroom like she can’t stand the sight of them a second longer, and Harvey looks at Mike’s ashen face and makes a decision. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s get out of here, she needs some space.”

Mike nods and they dress in silence. 

~

It’s two in the morning and there are no cabs. They must walk ten blocks before they finally manage to hail one. 

Mike hops in first and budges over. “Can I come home with you?”

The request fills Harvey with an odd sense of relief. A part of him wants to be alone to brood but the thought of taking comfort in Mike is too tempting. “Yes.”

“Harvey, it’s gonna be okay, right?”

There’s no truthful answer Harvey can give to that question so he stares out the window instead.

~

They don’t reach Harvey’s place until after 3am. Getting into bed with Mike, knowing that Rachel is all alone in her apartment, no doubt still awake and in pain, feels like a new betrayal. Why should Harvey still have Mike when Rachel now has neither of them? He buries guilty kisses into the crook of Mike’s neck, holds him and strokes his skin, listens to his breathing even out until he’s asleep in Harvey’s arms. 

Harvey lies awake for hours, staring up at the ceiling.

~

On Monday Harvey takes advantage of a break in his schedule to track down Rachel, in the library. He takes a seat next to her, and says, “Hey.”

“Go away, Harvey.”

“Can we talk?”

“No.”

“Rachel —”

“No, Harvey. I’m not ready.”

“Just listen then.” He leans in and keeps his voice low. “I’m sorry for not telling you. I’m also sorry for implicating you in our...”

“Your crime?”

“Yes. I’m so sorry, Rachel. I love—”

“ _No._ Get away from me, I mean it. I told you I’m not ready to talk about it, now show me some goddamn respect. What you’ve done is _unforgivable_ , don’t you understand that? Not just telling me, or not telling me, or whatever it is you think you’re supposed to feel bad about, but hiring him at all. I thought you were a good man, but you’re not. Neither of you are.” She’s shaking; her eyes shine with tears. “Now look what you’ve done.” A droplet spills out over her lower lashes that she quickly wipes away. “Please leave me alone.” Her voice is so small, so broken. “ _Please_.”

Harvey knows a lost cause when he’s the reason for it. He stands up, jaw clenched with the effort not to scream in frustration and fall to his knees to beg for forgiveness. 

He walks away.

~

It’s almost a relief to hear from man-child Keith Hoyt a few days later, offering Harvey and Mike a perfectly timed escape from their New York problems: Atlantic City and a wayward client with a drinking problem. And a gambling problem. And a just generally being an idiot problem. Hoyt’s a triple threat, but he’s charming enough that Harvey’s actually looking forward to fixing whatever mess he’s gotten himself into this time, and having a little fun in the process. Of course the first thing they discover on arrival is Hoyt at the poker table, going all in on a supposed sure thing, and then losing. His entire company. 

Still, the worse his client behaves the easier it is to avoid thinking about Rachel, although he still keeps tabs on her because it calms him to hear that she’s doing okay. Donna reports that Rachel is working with Louis this week as his ‘associate’, on some case involving the ballet, which gives Harvey a little swell of pride. A few weeks before she left, Harvey had offered to accompany her to _Romeo and Juliet_ and she’d flat out turned him down. “No way. You will ruin it for me with your complete lack of appreciation for ballet.”

Harvey reeled back in mock offense. “I like ballet!”

“No. You don’t. I’ll see you at home afterwards.” 

The ‘home’ she’d been referring to was Harvey’s place. 

~

Nor does Mike have any luck getting Rachel to talk to him, and as the days and weeks roll by without her, Mike spends more and more nights at Harvey’s. For all intents and purposes, he’s moved in, although it never actually comes up in conversation. He just hangs more suits up in Harvey’s closet, in the space Harvey gave him, and he fills up his drawer with underwear and socks; and every night after work he accompanies Harvey home. 

They talk about Rachel more often than is probably healthy, given how unproductive and repetitive those conversations are; but they can’t seem to stop their endless reasoning and reassurance that she won’t hate them forever, that once she’s come to terms with what they told her she’ll return to them.

~

She doesn’t come back. Harvey walks into his office one day a few weeks after the rift to find the house key he gave her sitting on his desk. 

He walks over to the door and brandishes the key at Donna. “Did you see her?”

“Yes,” she says, facial muscles slack with displeasure, and Harvey’s momentarily grateful that she’s too good to him to say the words ‘I told you so’. “But she’s not talking to me either.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I’m in on it. She walked right past me, but not before telling me not to try and stop her, and then she left the key and walked straight out again.”

“ _Fuck._ ”

“I’m sorry, Harvey.”

“Is she...?”

“Not that I’ve heard.”

“That’s a good sign, right?”

The one shred of hope he has left is that Rachel isn’t looking for a new job yet, which means, despite her disgust at Harvey and Mike (and by extension Jessica and the firm), at least a small part of her wants to retain some proximity to them. But he dreads daily hearing the news that she’s finally had enough. 

“Sure, Harvey,” Donna says, the downward curve of her mouth belying her words.

~

He hears no whisper of Rachel moving on over the following weeks and when he catches sight of her across the corridors or through panes of glass she looks...normal. Like she’s coping just fine. Always immaculately dressed, her gorgeous hair flowing like a fucking river of perfection. One time she smiles at him, and it’s a sad smile but it’s genuine too. She’s even talking to Mike again, albeit not about anything other than work. 

It’s starting to seem as though she’s really moving on, maybe not from Pearson Hardman, but from Harvey and Mike. ‘Friendly and professional’ has never been so laden with hellish connotations.

~

Mike is blown away by the huge bonus Harvey gives him.

“Are all these zeros because I’m your sex monkey?”

“You think of yourself as my sex monkey?”

“Among other things.”

“Okay good. And no. You earned it, kid. Spend wisely.”

Mike gazes off into the distance for a while before turning his smiling face back on Harvey. “I’m totally gonna buy Grammy an apartment.”

Excellent. “You want some help with the hunt?”

“Yes please.”

“And when am I going to meet the infamous Grammy, huh?”

~

He needn’t have asked in the end; Grammy shows up at the office of her own volition the very next day, to surprise her errant grandson with a packed lunch and a charming amount of lip. Rachel’s been looking after her while Harvey and Mike were on route, and has clearly made a good impression because Grammy invites her to join them for lunch. There’s a flicker in Rachel’s eyes, and Harvey knows that for a tiny moment she considered it, but then she politely declines, clutches Grammy’s hand in her own and tells her it was lovely to meet her. Harvey watches her walk away until she’s out of sight.

“You’re coming, I suppose?” Grammy says to Harvey, a shrewd smile pursing her lips.

He grins at her and nods. “Yeah I suppose I am.”

~

A few days later, while on his way to meet with Mike at Grammy’s beautiful new apartment that Harvey helped him find, Harvey gets the phone call.

~

The kid looks so happy; doing this incredible thing for the woman who raised him, chattering at Harvey with excitement the moment he opens the door, no inkling that his whole world is about to fall apart. When he clocks Harvey’s face his smile fades, replaced by a frown that deepens when Harvey takes hold of his hand and squeezes it tight. It’s the hardest thing Harvey’s ever had to say to anyone, but he makes it quick and inarguable, and then he holds Mike in his arms until the sobs subside.

They need to get out of here. He ushers Mike out to the car and tells Ray to take them home, keeping Mike enclosed in the protective circle of his arm the whole ride there, every muscle in Harvey’s body clenched against the onslaught of emotion that threatens to shatter his façade of control. Mike weeps on and off for the duration of the journey and all Harvey can do is hold on tight, stroke his hair, lay tender kisses to his temple and murmur endearments. “I’ve got you,” he tells him. “I’ve got you.”

By the time they get inside, Mike’s in an almost catatonic state – he’s no longer crying, but he’s not speaking either, staring ahead of himself into nothing. But numb is better than the alternative, so Harvey doesn’t try to snap him out of it. He walks him to the bedroom, sits him limp on the edge of the bed and undresses him: tie, jacket, shoes, shirt… He hands Mike some sweatpants, and then gets changed into sweats himself. “So we can grieve in comfort,” he explains.

Harvey takes Mike’s hand, leads him back into the living room and deposits him on the couch. He fetches them both a beer and then settles on the couch with Mike lying between his legs, his face buried into Harvey’s chest, one of his fists clutching Harvey’s t-shirt, occasionally taking in deep, shuddering breaths or whimpering in agony. Harvey drinks his beer and strokes Mike’s back.

Why did this have to happen now? 

And there, like a vision straight out of a fairytale, she stands. Dressed in a white shirt and black skirt, looking just exactly like an angel. A few paces away, staring down at them with devastated eyes, because Mike’s pain is Rachel’s pain is Harvey’s pain. When Mike becomes conscious of her presence he sits bolt upright and they gaze at each other for several seconds before Rachel lurches forward into his arms. 

They cling to each other for a long time before anything is said, and it’s Rachel who breaks the silence. “Donna told me. I’m so sorry, my darling. I’m so, so sorry.”

Mike might be crying again.

“I’m glad I got to meet her,” Rachel says. “I wish I’d come to lunch, I wanted to so much.”

“I’m glad she got to meet you both,” Mike replies. 

Rachel turns her head and makes eye contact with Harvey.

She takes off her shoes and gets comfortable on the couch with them, climbing in between Mike’s legs so she’s lying in Mike’s arms, who’s lying in Harvey’s, and Mike talks a little about Grammy, but mostly they just rest in silence. 

Having Rachel there is bittersweet relief. It’s the sickest kind of joke that her return was triggered by these particular circumstances, but at least she’s here. He can’t imagine how they’d get through it without her.

~

Time drifts on and at some point Mike disappears off to the bathroom, and Rachel and Harvey are left alone. She crawls into his lap and winds her arms around his neck. 

“Are you really back?” he asks her.

“I am,” she says, kissing him. They make out for a while, the familiar taste and warmth of her seeping into Harvey’s skin and mind and making everything lighter and better and easier.

“Rachel, I know you love Mike, and you’re hurting for him, but what about…” he trails off. That all seems so unimportant right now he can barely muster the energy to talk about it.

“Harvey.” She takes his face in her hands and stares into his eyes. “When I heard about Mike’s grandmother I knew this was where I belonged. I needed to take care of him; of you both. I was so mad at you, and I’m not over it by any stretch of the imagination, but I can’t stop loving you. Believe me when I tell you that I tried.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.” She huffs out a quiet laugh. “I’ve been doing nothing _but_ thinking about this, and the thing is, I know you. You’re not a bad man and neither is Mike. He grabbed an opportunity; and you - you make terrible choices when you’re falling for someone.”

“Hey!”

“You gonna deny it?”

Harvey shakes his head, equal parts disturbed and pleased by how well she knows him. 

“I’m just saying I get it. Mike walked into your life and you couldn’t let him get away. You loved him from the moment you met him.”

Harvey rolls his eyes. “Don’t know about ‘the moment I met him’.”

“Listen to you, you old pretend cynic. I’m not saying it was anything so prosaic as love at first sight, but he captivated you in a way that had never happened before, and there was no way you were letting him go after that. Even if it meant risking your career, the firm, God, possibly even your freedom.” She shakes her head, a disapproving frown creasing her brow. “Idiots.”

Harvey grins, leans in and kisses her, and then rests his forehead against hers. After a moment he frowns. “Where is he? He’s been gone a while.”

They get up and go off in search of Mike. 

He’s sitting against the wall next to the bathroom door, head bowed and forearms resting on bent knees. Harvey respects his need to be alone for a short while, but the tears streaking his cheeks won’t allow Harvey to just walk away and leave him be. He hooks his hands under Mike’s armpits and hauls him to his feet and then the three of them walk through the house and into Harvey’s bedroom.

They undress in silence, leaving their underwear on, sliding under the covers and boxing Mike in between warm bodies. 

Mike wants to kiss, turning his head this way and that, from Harvey to Rachel and back again, and the three of them make out like that for ages, until Mike’s responses become more insistent. He leans into Rachel, his body alive and interested. _I missed you_ , he’s whispering, urgent, breathless, climbing on top of her and shoving his boxer shorts down below his groin, cock springing forth. He’s completely hard and too impatient to wait for Rachel to take off her panties. He yanks the crotch of them aside and slides into her with a grunt. 

This they can do. They can’t take away his pain but they can help him forget about it for a little while. Harvey sheds his t-shirt and boxers and shifts over until he’s pressed against their sides, and he can feel the shifting muscles in their limbs as Mike pounds into her. And when he slows down to a more sustainable pace, the three of them start exchanging kisses, at one point sharing breath in a threeway kiss, their tongues touching. 

They take turns with each other. Mike wants to watch Harvey and Rachel, because “I need to know you’re really back with both of us.” 

Being with Rachel again after all this time is like coming home; she feels so good, so slippery and warm, so right, that Harvey gets lost in her for a moment, forgetting everything but perfect sensation and what it feels like to be truly happy. “I love you both,” Mike says. Harvey looks over into shining blue eyes, and gives Mike a nod. 

“We love you too,” Harvey tells him, suddenly aching with the need to touch him. He pulls out of Rachel, sits up on his knees and beckons to Mike. “Come here.” Mike crawls over and slots himself against Harvey’s body, kissing him, and groaning into Harvey’s mouth when Harvey’s fingers slip down his crack. “You want my cock?”

_yes please_

“I know you do,” Harvey whispers into his ear. “Suck me for a little while.”

Mike bends his head and takes Harvey into his mouth and jesus he’s gotten so fucking good at this.

“Oh God I’ve missed this,” Rachel says. Harvey grins at her and Mike pulls off for a second to chuckle, before turning back to his task. “I do love you both. I must be totally crazy, but I’m back to stay.”

Harvey takes his time prepping Mike – in the back of his mind he knows it’s because he wants to stretch the experience out as long as possible in order to delay the inevitable heartache that will follow the afterglow. He’s already told Donna she needs to cover for them all tomorrow, so Harvey’s willing to stay up all night, ensuring that Mike feels as loved and needed as it’s possible for a person to feel.

They arrange themselves just as they had the first time they made love – Mike in the middle, his cock in Rachel, Harvey’s cock in Mike. 

It’s what Mike needs. It’s what they all need. 

“Can we just do this forever?” Mike says.

“Yes please,” Rachel says.

Harvey’s close, he’s gonna come within the next twenty seconds. “It’s a deal,” he replies.

~

Mike lies fast asleep in between Rachel and Harvey; they hold hands across his torso and talk quietly.

“You know,” Rachel says. “I know tonight isn’t the time, but at some point soon we need to start talking about Mike’s future and how best to manage the disaster you two set in motion.”

“Yeah,” Harvey says, lacing his fingers through hers until their palms are pressed together. “I just…”

“What?”

He winces. “I have no idea what to do.”

“We’ll figure it out together.” She leans down and kisses Mike’s shoulder. “Surely with the combined brain power of you, our idiot genius here, Jessica, Donna and me, we can come up with something brilliant, that’ll enable us to keep you both out of prison.” She beams at him. “I don’t wanna be a prison wife, okay!”

“We’re not going to prison.”

“No, you’re not. Just…Mike might not be a lawyer for too much longer.”

“What?! You’ve got to be kidding me. I need him.”

“And you’ll still have him. In your _personal_ life. A mind like his, he can do anything. And we’ll love him whether he’s a fake lawyer or not.”

The truth in what Rachel is saying twists in Harvey’s gut, but the look on her face…the hopeful sincerity in her eyes… 

Maybe…just maybe…

“He’ll never go for it. His career is everything to him.”

She smiles down at Mike, strokes his hair with her free hand. “Too bad. In the end he’ll have to do what’s right. You both will. “

Harvey kneels up and reaches across Mike’s body, pulling her into his arms and kissing her. “For you two,” he says, and he glances down at Mike, sleeping soundly between them. “I’d do anything.”

~fin~


End file.
